BMR Lite

[code monkey]

rommie, it was the responsibility of the person for whom you covered to make sure that you had all of the materials and information required. he didn't. his mistake, not yours. oh, i understand, you were standing there, nominally in charge but still his responsibility.

if that exam wasn't the final the prof can distribute the survey at the next class meeting.

on the other issue fisher's not only right, he's inspired. 'bless your/his/her heart' is so useful and so versatile.

[Rommie]

Was the final exam, but not like we don't see these kids for their next class (second year astrophysics isn't exactly something one signs up for as an elective). I'll live- haven't heard from the prof tho as it's school holidays this week so he's at home with his kids. *shrug*

[Morrolan]

meh, it's just a survey. one missed won't impact the statistics much.

[Swift]

So, it finally happened. After almost 13 years with this corporation (at two different companies within it) I finally got a company phone, and a smartphone at that (a Samsung Galaxy S4). And this is BMR because I don't want one, because of the expectations that you are now available 24/7.

But it gets even better (well, worse).

We heard rumors about this last week and were officially told by IT on Monday. My phone arrived today. I dropped an e-mail to our IT person that deals with such things saying my phone had arrived, it was no rush, but whenever you want to set it up, please go ahead. She e-mails me back, no, you get to set it up, here are the instructions. And this is a multiple step process, because you have to first get AT&T (our provider) to activate it, then you have to install something called "MobileIron", then you have to deal with corporate IT's help desk to get it synced with your e-mail, then you have to do something else. I've been told by several people you have to go sit in one of the conference rooms, since they are on the perimeter of the building and actually get a signal, for several hours while you work through this, and that's only if things go well.

That's sounds like a project for tomorrow... or maybe next week.

Lastly, I asked IT about some training on the phones and what the corporate policy on phone use was (particularly personal use and personal aps). I was close to laughed at. The same woman sent me a link to the Samsung website for "tips & tricks" and sent me a copy of the Corporate Phone Policy, which essentially says nothing useful and nothing relevent to my question. I was talking to one of my co-workers about this, who has had a company smartphone for a while, and says he was very recently verbally told by this same person that the company has changed the policy and is basically letting people download aps, but they were keeping it quiet. Don't you love secret policies?

As I always say, if not for the fact that it is a documentary, Dilbert would be the funniest thing ever.

[Sigma_Orionis]

What a mess, sounds like Upper Management forced IT to allow smart-phones in the corporate network (so the big wigs can use them to surf the net without paying for a data plan) and IT came up with a hare-brained scheme to make it as hard as possible.

[Swift]

What a mess, sounds like Upper Management forced IT to allow smart-phones in the corporate network (so the big wigs can use them to surf the net without paying for a data plan) and IT came up with a hare-brained scheme to make it as hard as possible.

Actually, depending on how you define smartphones, the company has had them for a while. Till now they've been Blackberries and pretty much everyone manager and above has one. People I've talked to says they were given about the same level of "service" when they got their Blackberries.

They've just started switching from Blackberries to Samsungs, I don't know why, other than everyone is bailing on Blackberry.

As far as I can tell, completely unrelated to all that, our R&D Director decided that all the R&D engineers and scientists need company phones. So we get to be the Samsung guinea pigs; though I don't think it would be any easier if we were getting Blackberries.

I just hate that I have to spend 2 or 3 hours of my day to get this done, and it isn't my freaking job. Why even bother having an IT department.

[Sigma_Orionis]

Well, BlackBerries don't need usually need access the internal network to use Email, BlackBerry has a a service that does it and IT doesn't have to do anything.

Android based phones (like the Samsung) and Iphones on the other hand require more work by IT and depending on how they're configured (for example Wifi) IT needs to do a lot of footwork to integrate them to the Internal Network.

Everyone is bailing out on BlackBerry because most users prefer Android or IOS based phones. What made BlackBerry popular with companies was that their email service allowed them to get Email with little work or support from IT.

Smart Phones are IMHO PCs with a vengeance, and unlike PCs there are very few solutions to manage those things in a corporate network, (I googled to see what MobileIron was supposed to be, and apparently it's one of those solutions). I wouldn't be surprised if Smart Phone management solutions are primitive and unreliable right now.

I don't blame you for not wanting to waste time with those things, PARTICULARLY if it's a company assigned piece of equipment.

Almost sounds like they were trying to implement those things in a "Bring Your own Device" (BYOD) scheme, where the user simply buys whatever phone he wants and then of course has to do most of the setup himself. IT simply has a set of standards the phones must have and some infrastructure to minimally manage the things. But instead of that they bought the device and dumped the configuration work on you.

If IT is going to have a set of standards for the equipment they will use on the network (particularly if THEY buy them) it ought to be up to them to configure those things. The BYOD thing is setup on the assumption that the users know how to use their phones.

So you got the worst of both approaches, and on top of that, someone else decided that YOU have to carry one of those things. I'd say you have every right to be pissed off.

[pumpkinpi]

Just don't take it home with you. "I'm sorry, I thought you said this was my WORK phone so I left it there."

[Swift]

Almost sounds like they were trying to implement those things in a "Bring Your own Device" (BYOD) scheme, where the user simply buys whatever phone he wants and then of course has to do most of the setup himself. IT simply has a set of standards the phones must have and some infrastructure to minimally manage the things. But instead of that they bought the device and dumped the configuration work on you.

It might sound that way, but it wasn't. The Blackberry (I don't know what model) was the company phone, and now this one is The company phone. It was entirely purchased by corporate, and just showed up on my doorstep, so to speak.

[Swift]

Just don't take it home with you. "I'm sorry, I thought you said this was my WORK phone so I left it there."

Yeah, I don't think that is an option. The first time my boss wants me to know that the Monday morning meeting was changed from 10 to 9, and I don't know about it till I get to work, is not going to sit well.

But it will not get left on 24/7. I'll turn it on in the morning when I'm getting ready for work and it will get turned off at night. I'll probably turn it on sometime sunday evening, just to prevent Monday morning surprises.

[Morrolan]

we've been using smartphones as work phones for ages and i love it. iPhones in this case, but the basic principle is the same. it works quite well. we were the first company to take iPhones as corporate phones and have a close relationship with Apple. we are allegedly the only company that is allowed to have its own App Store for corporate apps (we have quite a few).

A lot of us also use our iPads as BYOD device for better readability of emails.

i do use an Android based phone (Samsung S3) as private phone rather than my iPhone 5, but that is simply because it is the better phone.

[Swift]

Sorry, didn't give an update. I spent over two hours a week ago, but I got it set-up, no thanks to IT. It seems to work fine.

No one has put it in writing, but I guess the policy is you can use it for personal stuff (I'll avoid porn) and you can download aps, as long as you pay for non-free ones.

Got to decide what to do with my own phone now. A co-worker said even though I have Verizon, and the company phone is AT&T, that you can set-up to have calls fowarded from your personal phone, which may be what I have done.

[FZR1KG]

I hate phones.

[Loresinger]

something you share in common with dragon man

[FZR1KG]

And who said he had half a brain. LOL

[Loresinger]

note to self when making lasagne take extra care when pouring out boiling water so it does not splash on one's foot.

that is all other than OUCH

[Rommie]

I really wish people would stop fucking saying "I'm sorry for how you took it" when they say something that upsets someone. That's not a fucking apology.

Back story: first year American PhD student friend here tries the Dutch Secret Santa On Crack party (you do an elaborate present and poem with it), puts a lot of thought into making a good one for the guy whose name she drew and did a nice job especially for someone who hadn't done it before, but she's one of the first to be figured out (you try to keep what you did under wraps a few days cause guessing is fun). So a little ribbing ensues on that, not a big deal but one of the ones soon leading the charge is her British supervisor. Always a slightly fine line but I could tell that in such a tired/tipsy state she was not taking it well but the dude takes charge in criticizing her present- dumb shit like how she wrote the note by hand, and OMG should've used a printer so it's not obvious who wrote it- eventually she is literally giving him the finger and he's saying crap like how you need to break someone down in order to build them up, and she keeps saying stuff like "I'm not you, so stop it"... yeah he didn't really stop until I told him more than once to knock it off.

Now it should be noted supervisor is also a slight bit on a friends basis with the group, but still said PhD girl's adviser, so she left pretty quickly and afterwards he's wondering just how that went wrong. I explain best I can how a little ribbing from friends is ok, but most people take it differently when their adviser is doing said ribbing most people are not as open to it (plus he should have stopped just because his student or not it was obvious she was getting upset by it), and he really needs to apologize to her on Monday. His take? He's going to apologize on Monday for "how she took it" and then explain in some cultures like British ones they're more open and not as hypersensitive in such situations like Americans are. Bull SHIT, you don't give a fuck at all for hurting her feelings, you're just miffed that your fun didn't pan out like you thought it would.

Now I normally like the guy, he's a good work friend, but every once in awhile stuff like this happens that reminds me why he'd never count as just a plain good friend. To use the Britishism, what a wanker.

[Cyborg Girl]

... Wow. I wouldn't want to work with someone like that actually/

(I've worked under competent assholes before. It's not fun.)

Edit: shit. That didn't come out right. I think it needs to be preserved for posterity though.

[SciFiFisher]

... Wow. I wouldn't want to work with someone like that actually/

(I've worked under competent assholes before. It's not fun.)

Edit: shit. That didn't come out right. I think it needs to be preserved for posterity though.

Well, you didn't want it to come out wrong did you?

[pumpkinpi]

Ugh. I hate performance reviews. I have to
--Look over my position description and decide if I have to make any changes to the duties and percentages of time associated with each, based on what I actually ended up doing this year
--Update my resume
--Report on the progress of my SMART goals from last year (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Timely)
--Create new SMART goals for the upcoming year
--Complete a six-question, open-ended self assessment form
--"describe the diversity activities you participated in this past year and how they impacted you. Were you able to make a difference in your work environment as a results of your participation?"

I also have to administer this to one of my staff members.

It's probably going to end up taking about 3 days worth of my time, because this reflective thinking is hard and slow going for me.

What really sucks is the goals I set now have to be for FY 15, which is July 2014-June 2015. If it's anything like last year, they are totally irrelevant by the middle of the year. I wish we could do six month goals instead.

The good part about it? I have a job that requires this....

[Swift]

What really sucks is the goals I set now have to be for FY 15, which is July 2014-June 2015. If it's anything like last year, they are totally irrelevant by the middle of the year. I wish we could do six month goals instead.

Wait, your goals are relevant up to the middle of the year? We don't usually get mine decided to some time in the middle of the year (like I'll get my 2014 goals in July 2014, after half the year is gone), and are usually irrelevant within weeks. One guy here never got his 2013 goals, the entire year (I used to work for his boss - nice guy, but an incompetent administrator).

The good part about it? I have a job that requires this....

That is only correct if the only other alternative is unemployment. Otherwise, there is no good part of it as far as I'm concered.

[FZR1KG]

Goal: Do far less work and get paid way more. I guess I want to get into management.

[SciFiFisher]

That's the problem with you civilians. Always trying to set goals at the beginning of the year and then pfffft you are off course before you know it. I prefer the army way. We wait until the end of the year and when we do our performance reviews we write down what our goals WERE for the year. My favorite part is that we always have to complete our "support form" which tells our rater what we did for the previous year. Essentially, we write our own performance reports and our immediate supervisor transcribes it to the official document.

Of course, officially the support form is supposed to be started at the beginning of the rating period and include your projected goals. And quarterly your rater is supposed to sit down with you and check on your progress. And then when the 4th review period ends you all sit down and put the polishing touches on the review (called an OER or an NCO-ER) and everyone signs it.

Unofficially, we all wait until its due and then we fill it all out.

[SciFiFisher]

Goal: Do far less work and get paid way more. I guess I want to get into management.

This is how I summarize the inherent conflict between management or company owners and employees. The company wants to hire you to work for 40 hours, squeeze 50 hours of work out of you, and pay you for 30. The employee wants to be hired to work for 40 hours a week, work 30, and be paid for 50.

[brite]

That's the problem with you civilians. Always trying to set goals at the beginning of the year and then pfffft you are off course before you know it. I prefer the army way. We wait until the end of the year and when we do our performance reviews we write down what our goals WERE for the year. My favorite part is that we always have to complete our "support form" which tells our rater what we did for the previous year. Essentially, we write our own performance reports and our immediate supervisor transcribes it to the official document.

Of course, officially the support form is supposed to be started at the beginning of the rating period and include your projected goals. And quarterly your rater is supposed to sit down with you and check on your progress. And then when the 4th review period ends you all sit down and put the polishing touches on the review (called an OER or an NCO-ER) and everyone signs it.

Unofficially, we all wait until its due and then we fill it all out.

And he wonders WHY he gets smacked in the head...